The present invention pertains generally to vehicles that are modified for use by individuals that are not ambulatory, and pertains specifically to a raised hatch door system to be used with pivoting side doors of a van.
In order to provide for improved transportation for individuals that are not completely ambulatory, vans have been provided with spaces to accommodate wheelchairs and powered wheelchair lifts for raising and loading the wheelchair from the ground through the side doors into the van. In order to accommodate a wheelchair lift and a wheelchair, the roof of a standard van is typically raised.
For a standard van, the opening on the side is provided with a pair of doors that open outward and are pivotally attached to the sides of the opening by standard door hinges. The doors typically latch at the top toward the center of a structural header disposed above the opening. The doors also typically latch to each other along their midportion.
In order to increase the height from the floor of the van to the top of the opening to provide for greater headroom inside the van, the factory installed structural header is cut and a new section of the header is added. The new header is typically provided by cutting the factory header and then welding a U-shaped member between the ends of the factory structural header. The U-shaped member provides the new structural header across the top of the enlarged opening in the side of the van. The latch components from the factory header are then mounted on the new structural header.
In order to match the doors to the larger opening, the practice has been to attach extensions onto the top of the standard van doors. The extensions have been welded onto the tops of the factory doors or attached by other means such as adhesives in the case of extensions constructed out of lighter materials such as fiberglass.
The requirement to modify the standard doors and to move the latches to the new structural header has drawbacks. If the extensions are constructed out of metal and welded, the process is relatively labor intensive and the extensions add extra weight to the doors. This extra weight can lead to problems with the standard door hinges causing the doors to sag over time and as a result to not close properly.
Another drawback to the extended doors is that the repositioning of the latch at the top of the extended doors reduces the structural integrity of the doors in the event of a collision.
What is needed is a hatch door system for an extended height van that engages with standard van doors and that provides a structural header similar to a factory header when the hatch door is in the closed position.
The present invention meets the above-described need by providing a hatch door that engages with standard van doors and that, in the closed position, provides a structural header that is similar to a factory header.